However and unfortunately, this high price has become useful for me. In the past two years I’ve had to be hospitalized several times and in two cases complex surgical operations were necessary: first having detected a cancer on my left kidney which required kidney ablation. Then about a year later, metastasis of that cancer were discovered in my brain. I had to have brain surgery with a very experienced neuro surgeon who managed to extract the two metastasis while leaving me in general good health (This was a 7 hours surgery) At that point my regular contributions to social security taxes don’t seem that high anymore.

I should say also that beyond self protection against accidents of life, such contributions must be seen as a contributions to the society in which we live… I have many examples of formerly well paid highly skilled employees who found themselves fired by the very large corporation that employed them before. They are now in difficult situations and should health problems, such as those that happened to me, hit them, they wouldn’t be in a position to pay for hospital and surgery. Note that In France private insurances are asking for much more monney than what I was paying out of my salary to social security. This is due to spreading the risks over a much larger population.

To conclude the European Commission which is very pro private enterprise and free market institution. Nevertheless it plublished a document entitled “COSTS OF NON-SOCIAL POLICY: TOWARDS AN ECONOMIC
FRAMEWORK OF QUALITY SOCIAL POLICIES – AND THE
COSTS OF NOT HAVING THEM”
Which puts in perspective the benefits that private businesses get from having a society in which there is social protection implemented, although this has a cost, the cost of not having it would be far more damaging.
The integral text can be found here:
http://www.temaasyl.se/Documen.....Policy.pdf

Paul

not only do I agree with your factual objections here, but your linked presentation was outstanding as well. Kudos.

I follow this blog for informational clarity, something clearly absent in what appears to be a guised ranting.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/r.....743826461/

The accuracy of these two very different health care charts that use almost the exact same data is distinctly colored by a person’s ideology and attitudes about health care reform.

Data visualizations are inherently editorial – they are the sum product of dozens of editorial design decisions that ultimately add up to a distinct point of view. There are ways to minimize (and maximize) its editorializing, but we have stop fooling ourselves into believing that there is always a right way and a wrong way in this business.

Beautiful design does not necessarily equal accurate design.

Bad design does not necessarily equal inaccurate design.

p.s. For those that are interested in more about these health care reform charts, see this Ignite presentation I did entitled Chart Wars:

http://www.targetpointconsulti.....chart-wars

I’m thinking there are many applications designed to uncover efficient representations of complex networks – probably many biological (food webs, evolutionary trees, etc.). Someone (not I!) should try recreating it in Protovis:
http://vis.stanford.edu/protovis/ex/force.html

If the goal of the chart was to show how the new health care system will be complex, bureaucratic, and inefficient, then it worked for me.

If the new health care system will be simpler than this, then let’s see that chart with the article.

If that chart doesn’t exist, then who’s to say if this chart convolutes or clarifes the proposed system.